Dominion
by spritorac
Summary: When a seemingly unstoppable 'Snow Queen' invades and it's princess Anna is whisked away to a far off land the state of Arendelle is thrown into turmoil. Elsa's requisite need for control over everything that moves against her leads to anguish and ultimately an uprising which conspires to throw lowly ice miner Kristoff Bjorgman into the middle of international conflict.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story will be pretty dark at times, featuring rape, other forms of sexual assault and torture. If any of these things bother you I'd advise you to avoid this fic. It would be remiss to not mention kaiserklee and his work Tempest as it sparked my interest in writing a story along these lines.

* * *

Elsa looked out across the water, her extremities reaching out for the horizon. She took in a deep breath of the sea air and exhaled with a smile. All the planning and calculating was over, today was _her_ day. She called up a thousand tiny ice crystals in her palm, watching with gratification as the shimmering blue light they produced weaved in and out of her fingertips. She reluctantly withdrew from her reverie as the footfalls of her captain drew nearer. "Your highness, Arendelle bay is now visible five miles from starboard. We'll wait here for 20 minutes and then follow you into the bay"

Elsa turned around, looking her him in the eye, amusement flashing across her eyes as he shrank back under her gaze. "Thank you Andersen" she said, before turning her attention back to the iridescence flowing across her palm. She reflected on his life with a distanced interest. He had done well for himself overall, fighting his way up the chain of command to as near the top as he'd ever manage. He was good at his job too, a fantastic tactician and manager of simple minds, none of that changed the fact that he was living an existence of constant struggle against his birth station. That was the difference between him and her, the innate capacity to rule over others that could never be taught. The inherent authority over others some men worked decades to cultivate came as naturally to her as breathing, and soon, all of the people in the relevant world would have their life inexorably linked with her choices.

"All clear" came the shout from the stern. With one last look over the ship and its crew, Elsa slid over the rail and dropped onto a plate of frozen seawater below and began her walk into the bay.

* * *

Kristoff pulled up to the palace gates with a sigh, today had not been a good day. Waking up at in the middle of the night to make the long trip north to Lake Isteren was not his idea of fun, and it had all been for nothing. The eternal irony of his job was that in the particularly hot summer Arendelle had been blessed with, his ice was in the greatest demand it had been in years. The downside of course, was that his meagre supplies had dwindled and obtaining more involved going so far north that ice birds became a common sight. Annoying as it was though, the trip was a necessary difficulty. If he didn't make enough to live on in the winter months he'd have to turn to the crown for charity. He'd never needed to before and he certainly didn't plan on starting now.

The lake had offered up nothing but disappointment however, the icy layer that covered the surface was largely less than an inch thick. He'd salvaged a few paltry blocks from the northwest corner, which had spent much of the previous day in shadow and then left in frustration. He had neither the time nor the resources to make a trip any further north so he'd had to settle with what he had.

He hopped down from Sven's back, gave him a quick scratch behind the ears and knocked on the heavy wooden door. A hatch at eye level opened and he was given a cursory glance before it swung open. "Kristoff, you're back early, nothing doing up at Isteren?"

"Yeah, I thought the cold would have held that far north but no such luck it seems"

"Oh well, you'll pull through I'm sure, would you mind taking what you have down to the cold room yourself? Kai is in bed unwell."

Kristoff nodded and took Sven's reins, leading him through the open gates. He didn't really mind, in fact the privilege of going inside the palace was not one afforded to many people who weren't working there in some capacity. He led Sven around the exterior of the west wing until he reached the small door which served as the servant's entrance to the kitchen. "Wait here" he said and went inside. He couldn't help but smile to himself when as soon as he opened the door, the first thing he heard was Irene's voice bellowing an order of some kind to one of the kitchen hands in another section of the kitchen. She'd been around as long as anyone could remember and was revered by everyone who worked there. One of the workers preparing vegetables looked up as he entered. "'I'd ask where she is but I think I can guess" Kristoff said with a smile, walking through into the main chamber.

For someone who spent their entire existence trying to scrabble together the money for enough rye grain to keep a full stomach, the assault on the senses the kitchen provided was intense. He tried desperately to think about anything other than the smell of roasting meat and spices as he ambled through, evading the various workers as they dashed to and fro in the endless race against time their job comprised. Irene finished remonstrating with the underling and looked up, noticing him for the first time. "Kristoff, lovely to see you" she beamed, rosy cheeks parted by a warm smile entirely at odds with her previous demeanour.

'And you Irene, beautiful as ever' he said with a grin, giving her a wink. "I'm here with this weeks ice, what little of it there is"

"Oh you are good to me Kristoff, shall we go out and count it through then?" He followed behind as she waddled out, amazed at her ability to wear her middle-aged bulk as a badge of pride. He pulled down the only one of the granite boxes he used for transportation he'd managed to fill and opened it up. '14 blocks there but I'll round it up to 15 for you, best I can do I'm afraid.' She counted out the correct amount of money and turned to go back inside. 'I trust you to take it downstairs and not cheat me, I'll see you later'

Kristoff shook his head smiling. There was a reason she'd held this job down so long, managing to keep so many different types of people in line was a skill he'd just never have. He picked up the box, grunting with the strain and carried it downstairs, placing a piece of ice here and there on top of old ones that had begun to melt. He breathed and picked up the box again, looking at the sky in puzzlement, he was sure it had been clear only moments before.

* * *

As Elsa passed the breakwater at the entrance to Arendelle bay she began to summon the energy from the place deep inside her body where it was stored. Throwing her arms out wide she watched enraptured as the sky began to darken, the air cooling around her. Snow began to fall from the sky, slowly at first but quickening to form drifts along the streets. She grinned widely as the first of the men who'd been sent to dispatch her filed up along the bank. With a flick of her wrist she formed a dome of ice around herself and kept walking, daring them to try and stop her. "Fire!" came the call from the bank, the resulting bolts embedding themselves in her shield or simply falling away harmlessly. The grin turned into laughter as she disintegrated the dome, entrenched arrows falling away and formed it again, still walking steadily towards the jetty. The captain raised his arm to order a second volley but before the order came he fell to the ground, a bolt of ice protruding from his chest. She froze the rest in place, with their captain dead their fight would be gone, a gaping whole in their ranks that she would fill at a later date.

She stepped up onto the jetty, her dome flowing across the ground as easily as it had the water. She noticed with satisfaction that any attempt at stopping her inside the town itself was over. Ignoring the irrelevant townsfolk falling over themselves to get out of her way, she walked up the central avenue towards the palace itself. As she drew near, a shout came from the ramparts "Leave now and this can all end peacefully." She shook her head, laughing to herself at the absurdity and froze the entire line of onlookers to the ice-covered wall in front. Shouting obscenities at her they struggled helplessly as she continued at the same pace she'd been walking at since she departed the ship.

She produced a large block of ice, watching on as it slammed into the wooden gates, ripping them from their hinges. She walked up to the palace door, ignoring the hail of crossbow fire coming from all angles and walked inside, freezing the door shut behind her. With a sigh of relief she collapsed the dome and began to walk up the main staircase, humming to herself as she went. She walked into the king's office, noting disinterestedly that it was actually a fair bit less ostentatious than she'd expected. She'd assumed the stories about the crown's charity when it came to Arendelle's poor were just good propaganda but perhaps..

"What is it you want? Whatever it is you can have it, the killing has to stop" Elsa was impressed, it took a decent fortitude not to be entirely scared off by as dramatic a display as the one she'd just produced.

"I will thaw the bay, my captain will come in with his troops and occupy the city unchallenged. All of Arendelle's troops will be placed under his command to do with as he pleases. Furthermore, Arendelle will pa-"

"Why do you think you can just come in and demand whatever you want? These are real people you just killed today" Elsa turned to look for the source of the interruption, surprise colouring her face for the first time that day. She regained her composure and allowed a wicked smile to break across her face as she looked down at the Princess Royal of Arendelle. Elsa surveyed the mass of emotional rage in front of her with appreciation. Braided red hair fell that across her front, following the perfect contours of her body as their owner breathed with frustration.

She made her mind up in an instant and turned back to the King. 'As I was saying, Arendelle will pay 1 fifth of its output of all kind to us in tribute. Finally, I will require the presence of one of your children in my palace as vassal, this will strengthen the bond between our to nations and reduce the possibility of any.. misunderstandings we might have.

"b-but Anna is my only child"

"I can go outside and slaughter half of your townsfolk if you'd rather" She said, a glint in her eye contemplating the possibility.

"It's fine father" the princess said with finality "I'll go"

* * *

Kristoff finally conceded that they were never going to get the palace gates open, he sat down on the steps in the courtyard in frustration, wondering what on earth he was going to once this 'snow queen' as she was being labelled finally reappeared. Before he could think of any kind of detailed plan the decision was made for him. "You, ice miner." Kristoff looked up to see the sergeant coming towards him. "Our heralds are either incapacitated or missing, we have no one else to turn to. Take this message south to Corona and warn the king. Whatever happens to us this monstrosity has to be stopped." Kristoff opened his mouth to reply but before he could say a word he was stopped "Don't say anything, just go. Take this ring and give it to Flynn Rider, he'll know the significance. Now go!"

So Kristoff went, climbing up onto Sven's back and cantered through the desolate town, sparing one last glance at the frozen palace before it disappeared from view.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: **I might get a bit confusing here with country names so I'll try and limit that here. All of the countries correspond to somewhere in real Europe. Arendelle is Norway, Osthall is Sweden, Danland is Denmark, Lycene is Germany and Corona is France. I've stolen real Norwegian names for towns, lakes and rivers. My only criteria for which I picked was which sounded the nicest to me, apologies in advance to any confused Norwegian readers wondering how Setten could be anywhere near Egersund when they're several hundred miles away in real life.

* * *

Elsa sat back in her chair and exhaled, smiling happily at the ceiling of her quarters. It had been a long time since she'd felt this good. She had exacted her plan in the one arena left remaining to those who had everything and she'd done it perfectly. She knew of course that taking Arendelle had been the easy part, managing it would be considerably more difficult. This early on in her expansion the logistics would be fairly straightforward, it was only cultural acceptance of a foreign body in power that would give any issue at all. She'd chosen Magnus Pederson as her first governor. He was perfect for the job, cool headed, an astonishing knowledge of local customs and most importantly, utterly loyal. It was slightly frustrating that she'd had to replace him as mayor of Osthall's capital, but it was ultimately a minor obstruction compared to the issues large-scale civil unrest would bring.

She considered then her decision to bring Princess Anna back with her. From what she'd gleaned of her presence in the community, it was a move that would be extremely unpopular. It had been a lapse, but Anna had roused the itch that her soul carried everywhere she went. The innate need to confront any challenge to her authority head on coloured such a large proportion of her paradigm that denying it would have been admitting defeat on a very personal level. Even more than that though the princess was unlike anyone else that she had met, she had a draw entirely separate from the challenge she posed. Elsa was confident however that Anna's exemption from the fear that flashed across the eyes of anyone who knew who she was would and could not last.

The sound of raised voices outside broke her reverie. With a short click of her tongue in irritation, she went outside to face the problem personally. "What's the problem Andersen?"

"It's this lady your highness, she claims her husband's hand was broken and claims she deserves compensation. We'd get rid of her but you told us not to use force"

Elsa walked down the gangplank, noting with interest the group guards walking down the street beyond, signalling Princess Anna's arrival. As Elsa neared the end of the jetty the woman broke off her remonstration to look at her. Silence filled the air as she stopped and turned the force of her gaze down upon the citizen, "The governor will be dealing with all concerns concerning the invasion in the coming days, do you think you're special enough that you get to jump in line?"

The woman took a step back, dumbstruck by the overwhelming force of personality in front of her. "n-no, I suppose not"

"Then that's what I suggest you do, you have 30 seconds to remove yourself from this jetty or further action will be taken." Without a second glance Elsa turned and walked back to the ship, her mind already turned to the arrival of the princess.

* * *

Kristoff edged forward slowly, the air around him coming alive as he opened his ears to any last factor that might derail his catch. Slowly he raised his crossbow, drew back the string, took one final breath and fired. He punched the air in delight as the resulting bolt embedded itself in his target's neck. It was a large mountain hare, perhaps between 4 and 5 years old and as good a find as he had hoped to get in the day he'd set aside for hunting. He hadn't wanted to stop of course, every sinew in his body had been aching to get to Corona as quickly as possible, but he'd had to accept that being over hasty was likely to cause more problems than it would solve. He didn't expect his journey to take more than a week, but the little money gained from his final sale to the palace wasn't likely to last long. Attempting to hunt in unfamiliar territory would simply be next to impossible. But luck was on his side, the money he'd get from selling the Hare at Egersund should be enough to get him passage on a boat to Danland, then it was flat country through to Lycene and eventually Corona.

As he untied Sven from the post at which he'd been patiently waiting, taking care to spare him a carrot for his troubles, he wondered idly what Corona would be like. A life of frigid cold and months of darkness certainly had its downsides but it was home, and he took comfort in the existence he knew. Getting to meet Flynn Rider was the most exciting part of course. All across the continent people knew the story of the dashing vagabond commoner who'd saved and the missing princess. In fact the general political stability of the past 4 decades or so rendered Rider's tale by far the most dramatic in living memory. He grimaced slightly, the image of unstoppable fury he'd seen the day before still burned into his memory "Not anymore eh Sven, lets just hope someone in Corona is willing to believe that a snow queen is bringing doom to the known world"

It was mid afternoon when Kristoff reached lake Setten, a big personal milestone. This was the furthest south he'd ever had cause to go in his life, and even here only rarely. It wasn't for ice harvesting of course, there was never a need to travel so far south for business but he had hazy recollections in his childhood of fishing trips with his father. It caught him by surprise just how much of an emotional landmark this was for him, memories of a past life long forgotten flooding back in. He shook his head, banishing the thoughts from his head. Those days were over and there was no point dwelling on them, he had a job to do. After Sven had drunk his fill he moved on into the next pass, with any luck he'd be in Egersund by nightfall.

* * *

Elsa had known it would only be a matter of time, Anna simply couldn't help herself. When the princess had first arrived on the ship she'd gone straight down to the hold, refusing to speak to anyone. Busy as she was Elsa was quite content to let Anna stew as long as she needed to, confident that it wouldn't take long for the fiery teen to come and make her feelings known. "Why do it?" came the eventual storm. "Arendelle has never had diplomatic tension with Osthall, we're not particularly wealthy and it gains you very little personally. Our border has been stable for so many years now, the-

"The mistake you're making is in thinking I needed a reason," Elsa said, not looking up from the book she was consulting. "I saw it, decided I wanted it and took it. Rather than complaining I'd suggest you come to a conclusion as to what you plan on doing next"

Anna scrunched her brow in mock thought "hmm, go up against an all powerful snow queen on my own when an entire army couldn't stop her. Somehow I don't think that would go so well"

Elsa looked up from her ledger with a smirk "I'd say that's a pretty accurate assessment." Closing the book she stood up, walking round to the front of the desk, perching herself on the edge carefully. "That leaves you with two choices as I see it. You can either kneel in front of me now and pledge your unerring loyalty to my life and it's work or, you can choose to be difficult and accept the consequences that road entails."

Elsa's smile grew wider as Anna's face flitted from being appalled to outraged at the suggestion. "Kneel before you? I'd rather you froze me in ice and threw me overboard. Why did you want to bring me with you anyway? My father isn't about to betray you, he loves his people too much to put them in danger"

Elsa couldn't hide her grin as she answered "Didn't you hear me earlier? If I see something I want, I take it." Anna raised an eyebrow, thinly veiled contempt colouring her face. Elsa broke eye contact and walked back round the desk with a sigh "Besides, whilst your father may be agreeable I highly doubt your friends in the south will be quite so docile. I'm watching the ports but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before word gets out and I have to be ready." She sat down and re opened the ledger "If you'll excuse me for a while however, I have some business to attend to. I'll see you at dinner"

* * *

Kristoff knew something was wrong, the traffic of people out of what should be a bustling port town was almost non existent. His mind automatically flicked to visions of the town encased in ice, its fleets of boats locked in place. He supposed that large parts of the straights might be traversable if the ice would hold, but Sven wasn't really built for that kind of terrain. He breathed a sigh of relief as he rounded the last of the mountain and the placid town came into view. The respite lasted only a second though as he saw the sails of two frigates bearing Osthallian flags came into view. Nestled into the bottom of a valley on the south coast, Egersund might attract a larger merchant ship from one of the other kingdoms from time to time but this gathering was unheard of.

It wasn't really for him of course, if an invasion force was to be sent from the south they'd certainly see it here a long time in advance of it's arrival. Control of the movement of people between Arendelle and Danland was just an added bonus. Luckily he had the element of surprise, everyone would be expecting an official messenger of some kind rather than the local reindeer riding ice miner. Not that it would help him for very long he suspected, but it was a start. He started the descent into town, determining to find a barn he could hijack for Sven and himself to sleep in. He'd start a proper search for passage across tomorrow.

As he neared the outermost cluster of houses he slowed his pace, not wanting to attract undue attention. He had not quite passed the first of these when a stuttering call came from the 1st floor window. "Y-you, ice miner."

Kristoff whirled, bewildered. He strained his eyes to see the face looking down on him but the half-light of what remained of the day was impenetrable. He made the snap judgement to, confident his knowledge of the country would allow him to outrun pursuit if it came to that. "Who is it?"

"They k-know you're here, you were beaten by a m-messenger by some hours. Wait here, I'm c-coming down."

Kristoff swore internally at his decision to delay departure. Had he not taken the extra day he'd probably be in Danland by now, and with considerably less hassle to boot. Kristoff heard the sound of scuffling feet inside the house, before a bar was audibly life from the doorframe and dropped allowing it to be swung open. The elderly man it produced had clearly seen better days. The few tufts of grey hair remaining to him stuck out at peculiar angles from his head, the skin of which bore the discoloration of long periods exposed to sunlight. Unsettling as they were, Kristoff couldn't help but look into the strangely disparate eyes that took in the scene. Clearly on edge his right eye roved about the street incessantly, looking for any sign of jeopardy coming their way. The left was entirely still, drooping down into its lid with about as much agency as a garden rake. "What do you suggest I do?"

"C-come in quickly, s-stay the night here and I'll get you past the guards in my f-f-fishing boat tomorrow" Kristoff puffed his cheeks out and exhaled slowly, he'd chosen this path and would accept the consequences. If what the man claimed was true then this might be his best chance. If it wasn't, at least it was an elderly man he was contending with rather than the Osthallian military.

"Ok" Kristoff said, leading Sven into the hall and out into the back. Leaving him there Kristoff followed the man into a spare bedroom and collapsed onto the mattress, the day had clearly taken more out of him than he'd thought. "What's your name by the way?"

"S-sigurd" came the broken reply. "I'll wake you before d-dawn, we have to be p-prompt if we're to miss the patrols." Kristoff nodded, watching Sigurd depart from the room and lay back, staring into the unfamiliar ceiling, the worries of the day slowly falling off one by one as he faded into sleep.


End file.
